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You'll learn to go back to the simple life of the countryside with this mammoth guide of traditional country skills for simple living. Old-Time Country Wisdom &amp. Lore is a homespun encyclopedia of classic country know-how. This handy reference guide is filled with now-forgotten rural skills, foods, and crafts harkens back to a simpler time. Packed with more than 1,000 projects, pastimes, recipes and down-home truths along with more than 400 vintage illustrations.

In an era when incomprehensibly complex issues like Peak Oil and Climate Change dominate headlines, practical solutions at a local level can seem somehow inadequate.

In response, Lyle Estill's Small Is Possible introduces us to "hometown security," with this chronicle of a community-powered response to resource depletion in a fickle global economy. True stories, springing from the soils of Chatham County, N.C., offer a positive counter balance to the bleakness of our age.

This is the story of how one small southern U.S. town found actual solutions to actual problems. Unwilling to rely on government and wary of large corporations, these residents discovered it is possible for a community to feed itself, fuel itself, heal itself and govern itself.

This book is filled with newspaper columns, blog entries, letters and essays that have appeared on the margins of small town economies. Tough subjects are handled with humor and finesse. Compelling stories of successful small businesses from the grocery co-op to the biodiesel co-op describe a town and its people on a genuine quest for sustainability.

Everyone interested in sustainability, local economy, small business and whole foods will be inspired by the success stories in this book.

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In the latter half of the twentieth century, the percentage of the total American population living in suburbs grew to nearly 50 percent. Fossil fuels were cheap and plentiful, and car-dependent, energy-intensive lifestyles came hand-in-hand with this demographic transition. In the age of Peak Oil, environmental catastrophe and a failing economy it is imperative that we transform the suburbs into sustainable communities.

Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs envisions a suburban evolution -- from isolated cookie-cutter houses with manicured lawns and 2-car garages to small, closely packed, productive, interdependent homesteads. This guide to simplifying suburbia and adopting a lower energy lifestyle breaks down all our basic needs and describes how they might be met after the loss of the modern conveniences we currently take for granted. From small-space gardening techniques and a guide to small livestock, to tips on cooking, heating, and sanitation options and much more, this is a complete guide to becoming more self-sufficient wherever you live.

Required reading for anyone interested in increased self-reliance and a lower carbon footprint, Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs will help you look past the white picket fence to a new world of possibilities.

This is the definitive guide to planting, growing, harvesting and using 101 popular herbs. A step-by-step primer for gardeners of every level, it includes in-depth information on seed selection; maint…

This is the definitive guide to planting, growing, harvesting and using 101 popular herbs. A step-by-step primer for gardeners of every level, it includes in-depth information on seed selection; maintenance and care; drying; and uses in the kitchen, home pharmacy, crafting and body care. With renowned herbalist Tammi Hartung as a guide, readers will discover that growing their own herbs is one of the easiest ways possible to bring more beauty, flavor and health to everyday life. Sensational four-color photographs by photographer Saxon Holt bring the information to life.

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By growing vegetables in containers, even novice gardeners can reap a bounty of organic food in very small spaces. Anyone can harvest tomatoes on a patio, produce a pumpkin in a planter, or grow broccoli on a balcony — it’s easy! Bestselling author Ed Smith shows you how to choose the right plants, select containers and tools, care for plants throughout the growing season, control pests without chemicals, and much more. He even includes plans for small-space container gardens that are perfect for urban and suburban gardeners.

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Here is inspiration and instruction for anyone interested in making beautiful art out of earth. The author of Build Your Own Earth Oven teaches you to find, mix, and sculpt the right mud; develop group goals and vision, and translate simple, natural (and easy to draw) patterns into sophisticated and complex designs. The resulting murals will transform anonymous "spaces" into real places. Or make "garden art" you can sit on (or in). Get inspired by earth artists across the country and over seas. Brief, elegant, wonderfully and generously illustrated with drawings and 32 pages of color photos.

About the author
Kiko Denzer is an artist, teacher, and author in the earthen building revival. He serves as artist-in-residence in schools in his home state of Oregon, and has muddied tens of thousands of hands with his popular oven and bread manual, Build Your Own Earth Oven.

For many people, the word “industry” brings to mind images of sprawling factories belching toxic emissions in a blighted natural landscape. “Industrial” has become synonymous with pollution, human rig…

For many people, the word “industry” brings to mind images of sprawling factories belching toxic emissions in a blighted natural landscape. “Industrial” has become synonymous with pollution, human rights abuse, and corporate greed. In Industrial Evolution, Lyle Estill seeks to reclaim the term, with its original connotations of hard work, diligence and productivity, and to show how community-scale enterprise can create a vibrant, sustainable local economy.
Industrial Evolution is a story of survival. It is about how the small group of committed entrepreneurs introduced in Small is Possible managed to keep their dream alive and thriving through the economic recession, emerging with a model of what a sustainable local economy might look like in a post carbon future. Compulsively readable and seasoned with light humor, this grassroots account demonstrates that ecological stewardship and enterprise at an appropriate scale can lay the foundation for abundance.

Industrial Evolution skips the doom and gloom and is all about solutions. By showing that it is possible to take the big out of industry, this book motivates people to work together in a meaningful way. Filled with inspirational tales of success, failure, perseverance, and real world experiences that anyone can relate to, Industrial Evolution is a must-read for activists, organizers, politicians, and anyone who cares about resilient communities.

Chickens have become the mascot of the local food movement. A desire for sustainable, clean, wholesome food and superior soil quality has led more and more suburban and city dwellers to keep lying hens in their backyards and gardens. Across America municipalities are allowing, and even encouraging, residents to keep laying hens within city limits.

Draft and pass local laws allowing laying hens within their town's limits.

By the co-author of Chicken Tractor, Backyard Market Gardening and Day Range Poultry. City Chicks is a revolutionary way of keeping and using chickens by thinking "outside the coop" and "inside the city". More than 100 photos, drawings, and tables give visual clarity.

The imaginative and entertaining style of writing is combined with hands-on, real-life experience to bring you one of the most complete and authoritative books on micro-flock management.

Housing is a fundamental human right. For most of human history, our homes were built by hand from whatever local materials were available. However, since the Industrial Revolution, most housing has become little more than quickly constructed, mass-produced, uniform boxes. At the same time, the invention and standardization of the 30-year mortgage and our ever-increasing reliance on credit has come to mean that most of us never own our homes outright.

Housing Reclaimed is a call to arms for nonconventional home builders. It examines how technological advances, design evolution and resourceful, out-of-the-box thinking about materials and efficiency can help us meet the challenge of building affordable, environmentally friendly, beautiful and unique homes. Focusing on the use of salvaged and reclaimed materials, this inspirational volume is packed with case studies of innovative projects including:

Phoenix Commotion — working together toward low-income home ownership through sweat equity and 100% recycled materials

HabeRae — revitalizing neighborhoods by creating urban infill using modern technology and sustainable and reclaimed materials

These projects and others like them demonstrate that building one's own home does not have to be an unattainable dream. This beautifully illustrated guide is a must read for anyone interested in creating quality zero- or low-debt housing, reducing landfill waste and creating stronger communities.

About the author
Jessica Kellner is editor-in-chief of Mother Earth Living magazine (www.motherearthliving.com) and a passionate advocate of using architectural salvage to create aesthetically beautiful, low-cost housing.

Recommended Product for Wiser Living:
Today, more than ever before, our society is seeking ways to live more conscientiously. To help bring you the very best inspiration and information about greener, more sustainable lifestyles, MOTHER EARTH NEWS is recommending books and products to readers. For more than 40 years, MOTHER EARTH NEWS has been North America's "Original Guide to Living Wisely," creating books and magazines for people with a passion for self-reliance and a desire to live in harmony with nature.

Imagine making your own ciabatta, sourdough, English muffins, challah, naan, rye bread, brioche, and more! Even complete beginners can successfully bake their own bread with this in-depth course in co…

Imagine making your own ciabatta, sourdough, English muffins, challah, naan, rye bread, brioche, and more! Even complete beginners can successfully bake their own bread with this in-depth course in core bread-making techniques. From buying flour to slicing a warm baguette, you’ll find everything you need to know to make artisanal loaves of every bread style, including straight doughs, sourdoughs, yeasted flatbreads, and more.

About the author
Lauren Chattman is a cookbook author and former professional pastry chef who has written 10 books, including The Baking Answer Book. She has collaborated with former White House Pastry Chef Roland Mesnier on Dessert University and with Daniel Leader on Local Breads, which won an IACP award. She has appeared on local and national television, including The Today Show, and has sold more than 50,000 books on the home shopping channel QVC. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Sag Harbor, N.Y.